Rockies & MLB

A new group of Boulder Collegians resurfaces to play semi-pro baseball

The Boulder Collegians are a team of college players from across the country who come to Colorado for the summer to play at Scott Carpenter Field. From left, AJ Kruzel, Drew Rosbottom and Tyler Sutherland visit the batting cage Friday. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

There wasn't any doubt what Matt Jensen wanted to name his baseball team, but the Boulder Collegians had left a tough act to follow.

Jensen grew up in Boulder and had heard stories that seemed to place the semi-pro Collegians almost in a supernatural, make-believe category. In reality, they were the class of the summer college baseball teams in the area — and sometimes in the country.

Under the direction of general manager-coach Bauldie Moschetti, the Collegians brought a flavor of major-league baseball to the area long before the Rockies came to town and at a time the minor-league Denver Bears competed in the American Association.

From 1964-80, Moschetti's rosters were filled with the likes of Tony Gwynn, Joe Carter and pitchers Burt Hooton, Larry Gura and George Frazier, current member of the Rockies' television broadcast team. The Collegians won National Baseball Congress (NBC) national championships in 1966, 1967, 1975 and 1978.

If the history wasn't enough, a visit to the NBC museum in Wichita convinced Jensen.

"Boulder Collegians displays were all over in that place," he said. "When I saw that, it really started me down the road to bringing the name back for a team."

The new Collegians are underway in their second season, and although not a replica of the original, they're 5-1 in the Rocky Mountain Baseball League. Once again, the name Collegians has its ring at Boulder's Scott Carpenter Field, where they play their home games.

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"I don't know if we can get back to the level of the original Collegians," Jensen said. "It's going to take some time, in any case. We took our first step last year and finished 19-27, and we play 51 games in 45 days this year."

Jensen fills the chair of owner and general manager. Brett Manning, who also grew up in Boulder, is director of baseball operations. They look at the venture as a great extension of baseball in the Boulder community.

"A lot of the people who knew about the Collegians in the first era have told us they're excited abut having them back," Manning said. "They felt it was something that was missing from the community. Youth baseball really has jumped on board with us. We get a lot of the younger players at our games."

Manning believes the presence of the Rockies has helped the interest in baseball in general.

"We're trying to create a minor-league team atmosphere here in Boulder, and we're hopeful players from around the country will want to come here and play for the Collegians," Manning said.

The team has 18 players, who live with host families in Boulder. Mark Laschanzky, a Denver native with significant experience coaching at area high schools, is in his first year as the team's coach.

Boulder Collegians is baseball team of college ball players from around the country who have come to Colorado for the summer to play baseball at Scott Carpenter Field. Head coach Mark Laschanzky, right, works with catcher Will Powell around the batting cage. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

"It might be tough to duplicate the status of the original Collegians, but just the same our goal is to make a (national tournament) trip to Wichita," Laschanzky said.

AJ Kruzel, a second baseman from Henderson State in Arkadelphia, Ark., learned of the Collegians from an assistant coach on his college team.

"I was told that in the '60s and '70s, this was the team to be on," Kruzel said. "I've been playing baseball all my life and I'm just trying to get better. I'm living the dream. Everybody dreams of being drafted and getting to play in the big leagues."

Outfielder Chris McCoy came to the Collegians from Savannah (Ga.) State.

"It has been a culture shock for me, because I've never been this far west," McCoy said. "I didn't know anything about the past, but they told us about it at our first practice. I've been to only one major-league game in my life, and one of my goals is to get to a Rockies game."

Jensen feels as though he's a magician in making the finances work. He's working with a $30,000 budget that would grow to $34,000 if the team qualifies for a trip to Wichita for the NBC championships.

"Our two biggest costs are the coaching staff and the travel," Jensen said. "We get some revenue from ticket sales, concessions and merchandise."

Players also pay a fee. McCoy said he paid $880.

Jensen laid the groundwork to getting the Collegians going again. He found that the team name wasn't registered with the Secretary of State's office, so he registered it.

"We tried our hardest to find any member of the Moschetti family," Jensen said. "We definitely want to honor the tradition of the team."

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